I was infected by the planted tank bug and that has led me to wanting to do a shrimp tank (most likely a 40 breeder). Besides tank size I have nothing else figured out. I am planning on buying a home soon and do not want to have to move shrimp so I have been reading and reading about all kinds of shrimp in the meantime. Now im looking for suggestions from the masses.
I'm looking to start a planted shrimp breeding tank. No fish. I'm curious about doing moss. I've never had the pleasure. I think i'd like to do a cannister filter with a sponge over the intake. I'm not sure about co2 with certain shrimp. I want to do this right and have high grade shrimp but am not clear on how to use RO water to create the right water conditions for them to breed if what they need is out of range from where my tap water stands. My ph is at 7.5 and i have somewhat hard water. So thats it. If you finished reading all that I thank you and cant wait for some feedback!
Most shrimp don't need RO water and that ph is also fine for most shrimp. Any neocardinia species will be hardy and easy to find and care for. (Cherry, yellow, pearl blues ie)
you can use 50% RO and 50% tap mix. just use a water conditioner. I use pure RO to top off the tank due to evaporation.
I have a 40 breeder and I just use an aquaclear 70 hang on back filter. I have a sponge on the intake tube so no shrimp gets through.
If you HAVE an RO unit, then use it. if you need to buy one, dont.
In my experience with amanos and bamboos, shrimp are more susceptible to CO2 than fish, meaning you will be able to use less than normal. With high grade shrimp, I would leave that to experts.
My reply got cut off. CO2 usually isn't an issue unless your getting really serious about trying to get the max CO2 concentration for your tank. Mosses are good and most will grow like jungles with some CO2 and good lighting. My personal favorite is fissidens. Don't get star moss as its not aquatic despite it's attractive look
First, what kind of shrimp. Not all need a low pH. If you're mostly going to do mosses and low light plants, don't worry about CO2, more a pain with shrimp and trying to find the right balance for the vs the plants can be hard.
If you are thinking of crystal shrimp, you will probably need RO water, want to get some sort of good buffering soil to keep the pH and gH stable. If you've never done shrimp before, the consensus is usually start of with something cheap and hardy like cherry shrimp or yellow shrimp, and if you can keep them alive, then move up to crystals. Crystals can be more demanding in terms of params and lots of checking and testing to do to keep the water right and make them happy and breed. Cherries and other neocardinas will breed in a bowl. lol.
I was curious about OEBTs. Any above average care for them to breed? I also need to lookup using a soil to buffer the water because I again have never had the pleasure. Im guessing I shouldn't do weekly 50% water changes on a tank like that then if I am trying to keep the ph buffered and stable?
The care instructions for Tiger shrimp (including OEBTs) are sort of varied. While they 'can' do well in higher pH and with slightly higher temperatures (compared to Crystal Red Shrimp and other Bee shrimp which is the reference point that most people here are using since they are the most commonly kept of the more 'difficult' species) most people here seem to keep the tigers in tanks that are set-up along the lines of what you would use for Crystal Red Shrimp. It might be a bit of overkill, as the tigers are more tolerant of different water conditions than CRS are, but people seem to have success when doing so.
You can get the tiger shrimp to survive in harder water but you might have trouble getting them to breed so most people just put them in softer, cooler tanks like they use for Crystal Red Shrimp.
You can breed shrimp well in a smaller tank (7.5 gal to 10 gal range) and it might be good to try this with a small tank to get started with.
A smaller tank (like a Fluval Ebi or a standard 10 gallon tank) is going to be cheaper to buy pH buffering soil for (in the US Aqua Soil seems to be the best option if you need to lower the pH) since you need less volume. A smaller tank also gives you the affordable option of using RO water without having to buy an RO unit up front. You can probably get two 5 gallon water jugs and have them filled once a month at a local fish store for ~$5.
I would recommend getting either a Fluval Ebi or a 10 gallon tank and using pH lowering soil (Aqua Soil or the Fluval Shrimp Stratum soil that comes with the Ebi and is sold seperately as well if you can't get Aqua Soil) and picking up a few jugs of RO water at an LFS. Buy some neos from someone on this site or Aquabid (Red Cherry Shrimp, yellows, blue pearls, snow white, red rilis, etc.) and start with those. Neos don't require the pH lowering soil or RO water but once you have success with them you will already have the tank set up to allow you to keep more sensitive species and then you can just move your neos to another tank and move the new shrimp right in.
Thanks for the info. Let me know how your tigers do. I'd b more than glad to take some off your hands down the road.
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